Page 38 - Wyoming's Grizzly Harvest - The Story the State Wants to Bury with the Bears

Wyoming’s Grizzly Harvest Grand Teton National Park and the FWS. “Park biologists had conversations with Wyoming Game and Fish,” said Skaggs, and they “expressed an interest” in retaining 760, but they “supported the need for this bear to be relocated” and the responsibility “rested with Game and Fish.” “We talked to FWS and the Grizzly Bear Recovery Coordinator before we decided to remove the bear,” Thompson revealed. Chris Servheen, who said he had “no perspective” on Ellsbury and of WGFD had maintained, “We don’t get into their stuff,” had the final say on whether 760 lived or died in Wyoming’s custody. For the first week or two, Thompson could not specify the incident that led Servheen to give the thumbs down, as he said that the bear hadn’t actually done anything in Clark, Wyoming but “people were seeing him in their yards.” Having visited with past and current residents, it was a stretch to believe that “people” in Clark were able to identify the bear “in their yards” with any certainty as 760. That confirmed several years of past inquiry, which indicated that the majority of Clarkites had never seen a grizzly, and revealed that most would still be hard pressed to tell a grizzly from a black bear, which might explain why Ellsbury was given that patrol, as he has demonstrated the same inability. 38